26 Years; Radiation in US; Protestors Go Free; No Comment

[RobertEarl]

Last edited Thu Apr 26, 2012, 10:20 PM - Edit history (1)

http://www.scrippsnews.com/content/experts-report-outlines-cover-ups-radiation-leaks

PITTSBURGH - An expert's report on shuttered nuclear fuels plants in Armstrong County, Pa., provides new detail on allegations that operators Babcock & Wilcox Co. and Atlantic Richfield knew about worst-in-the-nation releases of radioactive materials that spanned decades, but opted not to do enough to protect neighbors from cancer-causing dust.

The 37-page report by Harvard University Radiation Safety Officer Joseph P. Ring, who teaches at Harvard and the University of Massachusetts, was filed this week in a series of federal lawsuits against the companies by about 90 cancer victims.

Ring found "numerous large-scale releases of ionizing radiation into the neighboring environment" during the operating lives of the plants, which spanned 1958 through 1984, adding up to "the largest quantity ... of any nuclear facility in the United States."


The effects continue to bedevil the Armstrong County communities.


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http://www.reformer.com/latestnews/ci_20485530/states-attorney-wont-prosecute-yankee-protesters

BRATTLEBORO - The Windham County State's Attorney's Office will not be prosecuting the 136 protestors arrested on March 22, 2012 at the Vermont Yankee Headquarters in Brattleboro. State's Attorney Tracy Shriver released this statement Thursday morning: "By engaging in civil disobedience, these protesters violated Vermont's criminal laws in an effort to obtain access to, and then use, our criminal courts as a forum for discussions about nuclear power and the continued operation of Vermont Yankee.

"However, our limited resources, and those of the court, are stretched thin.

"Weighing the seriousness of the criminal offenses committed by the protestors against the time and means necessary to proceed with these cases has led me to decide against moving forward with these cases.

"I commend the law enforcement agencies involved with the March 22, 2012 protests for their hard work and dedication to this county, for ensuring that the protest was orderly, and for keeping everyone safe.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/slideshow/2012-04-26/chernobyl-at-26.html

Chernobyl at 26
- Apr 26, 2012 3:10 PM ET
Beware


The world's worst nuclear accident occurred 26 years ago -- on April 26, 1986 -- at Chernobyl's reactor No. 4. The unprecedented inadvertent release of radiation was compounded by inaction: The Soviet Union didn't disclose the accident until after the radiation cloud was detected in Sweden, and even then failed to warn of the scale of the disaster. In that time, residents of Ukraine, Belarus and beyond went about their lives, ignorant of the radioactive dust descending upon them.

Award-winning American photographer Joseph Sywenkyj over the years traveled several times on assignment to the Chernobyl 30-kilometer (about 19 miles in radius) exclusion zone, creating these images.

[kristopher]

1. If they can prevent disapproval of nuclear from coalescing into determined opposition

...they have most of their battles won.

[Demeter]

2. Ah, No, the Worst Nuclear "Accident" is Ongoing at Fukushima

And it might be more accurate to call nuclear plants of any kind (power, weapon, processing) "accidents waiting to happen".

Or "accidents in progress".

[RobertEarl]

3. Well, yeah

But to date there have been 1 million human deaths attributed to Chernobyl, and untold numbers of other killed species. So, to date, Chernobyl has had the worst effect. You are right in thinking that Fukushima will be the worst when all is said and done.